BlackBerry laid off about 120 employees at its Waterloo, Ont., offices, the company announced Monday.

The layoffs were part of the company's 40% workforce reduction plan announced in September. The employees were part of the product development and wireless technology teams.

"BlackBerry is working hard to return to profitability and we continue to optimize our resources to meet our mandatory operational targets," the company said in a statement.

The troubled smartphone maker has been appealing to customers since the fall, saying users can "continue to count on us — we are here to stay."

It was reported in January that the company is planning to divest the majority of its Canadian properties to balance the books. As part of that, BlackBerry sold five buildings to the neighbouring University of Waterloo.